Both united in condemning to eternal wrath the idol-worshippers of the
Kaaba. It was a fiercely outspoken, remorseless enmity that he saw around
him, and the impotence born of distrust he saw also.

It is not possible that any hint of his future mission enlightened him as
to the part he was to play in eliminating this conflict, but may it not
be that there was sown in his mind a seed of thought concerning the
uselessness of all this strife of religions, and the limitless power that
might accrue to his nation if it could but be persuaded to become united
in allegiance to the one true God? For even at that early stage Mahomet,
with the examples of Judaism and Christianity before him, must have
rejected, even if unthinkingly, the polytheistic idea.

The poetic and warlike contests partook of the fiery earnestness
characteristic of the combatants, and it was seldom that the fair at
Ocatz passed by without some hostile demonstration. The greatest rivals
were the Kureisch and the Hawazin, a tribe dwelling between Mecca and
Taif.

The Hawazin were tumultuous and unruly, and the Kureisch ever ready to
rouse their hostility by numerous small slights and taunts. We read
traditionally of an insult by some Kureisch youths towards a girl of the
Hawazin; this incident was closed peaceably, but some years later the
Kureisch (always the aggressive party because of their stronghold in
Mecca) committed an outrage that could not be passed over. As the fair
progressed, news came of the murder of a Hawazin, chief of a caravan, and
the seizure of his treasure by an ally of the Kureisch. That tribe,
knowing themselves at a disadvantage and fearing vengeance, fled back to
Mecca. The Hawazin pursued them remorselessly to the borders of the
sacred precincts, beyond which it was sacrilegious to wage war. Some